About the Professional Certificate Program
Proficiency in Community Building and
Organizing
Earning a Professional Certificate
Program Courses
Download
Enrollment Form [PDF]
Download
Brochure [PDF]
Earn Graduate
Credits
Building communities requires more than creating affordable housing, understanding the market, or being able to read a financial statement. Livable communities transcend the bricks used to construct houses and involve effectively all facets of a targeted community in its development. Indeed, the mortar of civic and social institutions, personal and business relationships, and sense of common purpose bind the houses, people and local institutions together in a meaningful way.
Community building is a people-focused process that increases the collective capacity of neighborhoods to improve the quality of life for the individuals who live and work in that community. These processes must occur through sustained collaborative efforts involving and engaging stakeholders and be led by the integral participation of residents and the affected constituency. Community building includes incremental and measurable projects, programs, and activities that lead to positive long-term, systemic change. Successful community building enhances opportunities for the effective and efficient investment of human capital as well as financial resources.
Organizing is based on the belief that people have the ability to name their problems and identify the additional information and resources they need to solve them. Organizing is a process that brings the talents, resources and skills of people in the community together to increase their collective power to transform themselves and their community and work for social change. Organizing is more than mobilizing and service work. It involves leadership development, building relationships and consolidating thought and ideas into structures creating sustainable change.
Community builders and organizers must realize the assets of their communities with a critical eye, and utilize them in a way that will help neighborhoods and communities increase their viability and capacity for positive change.
The NeighborWorks Training Institute has designed a curriculum to help practitioners, funders, community residents, public officials, and others meet community-building and organizing challenges through the Community Building and Organizing Program of Study.
About the Professional Certificate Program
Education with Results
The Professional Certificate Program for Community Building and Organizing consists
of a series of courses that together provide the conceptual
framework, specialized tools, interpersonal skills, and technical
skills necessary to accomplish community-building goals. This
content area will enable participants to:
-
Serve as an agent for change in their community;
-
Implement strategic and entrepreneurial approaches
to community challenges;
-
Recognize the impact of increasing social
and economic diversity;
-
Understand the role that race and class play
in community development;
-
Recognize institutional barriers that can
prevent fair asset distribution;
-
Develop useful coalitions with organizations
and residents at the grassroots level;
-
Measure the impact of community work;
-
Plan and implement an organizing campaign; and
-
Work with, energize and lead volunteer efforts.
The program courses build the capacity of community stakeholders
to capably manage and shape the challenges of neighborhood life.
It is designed to provide community development practitioners,
residents, board members, and others with the training they
need for personal and professional growth. The curriculum is
reflective of a strong collaboration between the NeighborWorks
Training Institute and skilled practitioners in the field. The
courses emphasize a hands-on approach, combining lecture with
case studies, site visits, small-group exercises and other participatory
learning methods.
Candidates
Interested individuals at all levels of increasing responsibility may enroll in the Program of Study to earn a Professional Certificate in Community Building and Organizing. This content area would be particularly valuable for:
- Community organizers and outreach staff;
- Residents and key volunteers;
- Staff, boards, and executive directors of community development and community service organizations; and
- Program evaluators and funders.
back
to top
Proficiency in Community Building and
Organizing
Participants earning their professional certificate will take
a combination of required and elective courses that underscore
the importance of interpersonal as well as technical capacity-building
skills. The curriculum will enable candidates to:
-
Design and implement community-building strategies;
-
Mobilize resources for change;
-
Build effective partnerships;
-
Negotiate conflicts in communities and organizations;
-
Implement economic development activities
pertaining to revitalization;
-
Evaluate the impact of program and project
activities; and
-
Design and implement a community organizing
campaign.
back
to top
Earning a Professional Certificate
Participants earning their professional certificate in Community
Building and Organizing will take a combination of required
and elective courses that underscore the importance of interpersonal
as well as technical capacity-building skills. The content area
will enable candidates to:
-
Design and implement community-building strategies;
-
Mobilize resources for change;
-
Build effective partnerships;
-
Negotiate conflicts in communities and organizations;
-
Implement economic development activities
pertaining to revitalization;
-
Evaluate the impact of program and project
activities; and
-
Design and implement a community organizing
campaign.
Program participants have the option of taking required
course tests online rather than on paper. Learn
more about online testing for Professional Certificate Program courses.
back
to top
Program Courses
Listed below are the required and elective courses
for earning a Professional Certificate in Community Building.
For a tentative schedule of Community Building course offerings
at upcoming training institutes,
download the future Program course offerings [PDF].
Required Courses: All courses are 2-day courses.
Elective Courses: To complete the Professional Certificate Program, participants must also take at least three additional courses in the Community Building and Organizing content area. The following is a partial list of these courses. Courses may be one or two days. New courses are added regularly. See our online course catalog for a complete list.
NOTE: Participation at symposia in the Community Building and Organizing content area or at Community Leadership Institutes also qualifies as one day of elective coursework.
PRACTICUM
In order to successfully complete the Professional Certificate Program, a participant must also do a "practicum" after completing coursework. The practicum is an exercise that demonstrates how the participant applies what they have learned in the Professional Certificate Program to their professional and/or volunteer work in community building and organizing.
back to
top
